


Christmas In Andromeda

by DGCatAniSiri



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Liam cameos with a jingly Christmas hat, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 14:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13148250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DGCatAniSiri/pseuds/DGCatAniSiri
Summary: The first holiday to truly be celebrated by the Andromeda Initiative? Christmas, naturally.





	Christmas In Andromeda

Someone had brought up holidays to the angara. Between six hundred years of stasis and a smattering of holidays between the various races from the Milky Way, no one had really bothered to do more than a casual sync of the Nexus’s calendar to galactic standard, or the various planets. That, apparently, was something that the angara couldn’t tolerate. They heard about Milky Way celebrations, they wanted to join in. In hindsight, it made sense – between the general tragedy that had been inflicted on them due to the Scourge and the kett, as well as their love of family, anything that brought people, especially families, was likely to be important to the angara.

And, for the humans at least, the fact that Christmas was the nearest holiday once they synced the calendars to Earth’s rotation, there was a good reason to celebrate. Even people from backgrounds that didn’t celebrate Christmas on the grounds of religion were familiar enough with the trappings. Not to mention, given the establishment of a proper foothold in Andromeda, Prodromos and the others, and especially Meridian... Well, the Nexus was totally up for an excuse to throw a party.

Granted, Jaal had already declared the Christmas party tame by angara standards, but at this point, Ryder was pretty sure he just said that in order to mess with the humans. 

The Nexus had managed to open up a public space better suited for a major celebration than down at the docks – with second wave coming out of cyro en masse at this point, they’d needed to expand. And, of course, when the Nexus threw a party, they expected the Pathfinders to be there, the human Pathfinder in specific. Even if this weren’t a human holiday. Ryder was (as Tann had been quick to remind him) expected to be a major part of the festivities.

Ryder hated public appearances. He especially hated it when Tann dragged him onto a stage and demanded a speech. The salarian had done so when the Leusinia had docked with the Nexus, and Ryder had only just refrained from punching him. If he tried it again, Ryder would not accept responsibilities for the consequences. 

That led to him nursing a drink off to the side. He’d managed to duck into an alcove, where the lighting wasn’t particularly good, allowing him to lurk out of sight of most of the revelers. For the most part, it could be easily figured that anyone who was going to show up for the party, they’d be out and mingling, which meant that he was able to be hidden from view for the most part. 

Of course, Ryder could hide from the public around him, but he couldn’t hide from everyone. 

“So what’s got the Pathfinder hiding off in some quiet corner, I wonder?” Gil asked as he slid up next to Ryder. Where, exactly, the engineer had come from, Ryder couldn’t be sure. Gil called it just part of his charm, that he could sneak up on his boyfriend so easily. 

“Do I have to answer that, or is my glare going to be enough of a response?” Ryder asked, though the affectionate smile he flashed Gil took the sting out of his words. 

Though, knowing Gil, he probably would have ignored any bite in the statement either way. “Come on, Ryder. You really think you should be here Scrooging up the place?”

“If I say ‘bah humbug,’ then you can call me a Scrooge. Until then, I’m just... reserved.”

“Uh huh. Well, you are ‘reserving’ me a dance later, right?”

“Since when do you dance?”

That actually earned Ryder a second of silence – Gil was good with the self-deprecating jokes and poking at him, especially with Ryder giving as good as he got, giving both of them plenty of material to bounce off of, but he also wasn’t the life of the party himself. Sure, he’d made a killing at the poker table, but that attention could be tuned out, he could focus just on the cards. The dance floor? Not the place for those not actively looking to be the center of attention. 

“All right, so I don’t dance. Still.” Gil moved closer to Ryder, more actively making to ignore the celebrations out in the main area. “Doesn’t mean you should be over here, stewing in your little dark cloud.”

“I’m not stewing in a dark cloud. Does that metaphor even make sense?” It made just enough that Ryder knew what he meant, but that wasn’t actually a saying, was it? He shook his head, not needing to focus on it. “I’m just... You know, this isn’t exactly my scene. I’ve never really been good with crowds.” 

That did make Gil laugh. “Yeah, I saw the video of that speech Tann forced you into. You didn’t exactly look as triumphant as our illustrious director wanted.”

“He’s lucky I didn’t punch him when he pulled me up.” Ryder had only gotten past a very old habit of lashing out at unexpected and uninvited touches (he blamed Sara for it in the first place) after the repeated medical exams he’d had to go through in order to be cleared for the Initiative and its cryo suspension. It had been a serious effort not to fall back into that habit that day. Ryder wondered if Tann recognized how close he’d come to a black eye. Or whatever color salarians turned when punched in the face.

“So what would it take to get our brave Pathfinder out there and mingling?” Gil asked.

“More alcohol than Drack could survive drinking. With the redundancies.”

Gil sighed, taking a long sip from his drink. “Then I guess I’m just gonna have to stay close to you, make sure you have a good time.”

“I’m having a good time, Gil. At least when you consider the fact that I didn’t want to be here in the first place.”

Gil nodded. “Sure. But since you are here, someone has to make sure you stay in the holiday mood.”

“Is this to make up for the fact that you haven’t gotten me a Christmas gift?” Ryder teased.

“Considering you’re using Meridian as your gift to me, I’m gonna call keeping the Tempest intact despite what you want us to do with her mine to you,” Gil shot back.

“Ouch,” Ryder laughed, miming a shot to the heart. “You’re so unforgiving.”

Gil initially seemed unmoved by the remark. Still, after a moment, he sobered, dropping the jokes, looking Ryder in the eye with a serious expression on his face. . “Look, Ryder... Seriously, if you’re not comfortable here, we can always bail on this. Forget Tann, forget Pathfinder, forget all of it. If you want out... Just say the word and we can go.”

“Thanks, Gil. I mean it.” Ryder pulled close, resting his forehead against his boyfriend. “I’m good for a while yet. And I suppose it’d be a good thing to go and do some... mingling.” He almost didn’t say the word with complete disdain. 

It didn’t convince Gil entirely. “You’re sure about this? I don’t mind. And we could have our own Christmas party back on the Tempest.” 

Ryder smiled at the consideration – despite the jokes, the poking at one another, when it came down to it, Gil wanted simply to make sure that his boyfriend was comfortable, especially with how overwhelming a crowded party could be. “I’m sure enough. Let’s... I don’t know, put in a little Pathfinder PR, so the official pictures can say that I was here. Ten minutes, twenty tops. Then we bail.” Ryder felt he could manage twenty minutes of mingling.

Someone – someone not Ryder or Gil – cleared their throat. They turned to see Liam standing there, a Santa hat on his head, the tip flopped over so that a jangling bell waved almost directly over his eyes. Despite that, he’d managed to sneak up on them. “So, the two of you DO know you’re standing under mistletoe, right?” he asked, pointed over their heads.

Sure enough, he was right. There was a small bundle of mistletoe (or, more likely, some facsimile of it, since even if the hydroponics bay would have grown plants just for the sake of this party, it was doubtful they’d have done so for anything that wasn’t edible) hanging over their heads.

Ryder raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You didn’t plan this, did you?”

“Hey, I just followed you here. I didn’t pick this spot.” Gil had a point. 

After a moment, Ryder shrugged. “Well, I suppose it IS tradition...” he said. And, with that, he wrapped an arm around Gil, pulling him close and into a deep, thorough kiss. 

This Christmas party certainly wasn’t the worst thing ever.


End file.
